In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to kill a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

Original workprint version (1982, 113 minutes) shown to audience test previews in Denver and Dallas in March 1982.

Shot on 70mm film and is Darker and has more of a Gitty Edgey feel to it than other versions.

The Denver/Dallas/U.K. Sneak Preview of Blade Runner

A somewhat complete list of alternate scenes, shots, cuts, and sounds featured in this unique version of a classic science fiction film.

This rarely-seen cut of Blade Runner was, in essence, a work-in-progress. It was cut together after numerous changes, re-shoots, mixes, and decisions had been made by the filmmakers as to how it could/should/would be presented. Screened in Denver, Colorado on 3/5/1982 and Dallas, Texas on 3/6/1982, as well as in the United Kingdom (date unknown to me), it was the first incarnation of Blade Runner the general moviegoing public was to ever see. As compared to all other OFFICIALLY released versions, most notably the 1982 International Cut (the uncensored version of the official 1982 release) and the 1992 "Director’s Cut" (a release which was prompted by the overwhelming success of this "workprint’s" brief run in LA in 1990 and 1991), the original sneak preview version is rather different. The main differences are a rougher sound mix, unfinished music and scenes, and some extra and/or alternate shots within scenes already familiar to fans across the planet. This in-depth checklist will allow those folks who can’t wait to see another version of Blade Runner to compare and contrast the workprint to their favorite cut(s). (And yes, I did pull a lot of this information from Paul M. Sammon’s great book: FUTURE NOIR- THE MAKING OF Blade Runner.)

Storyline
In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.